Gate Gourmet to make 675 jobs redundant

30 August 2005
Gate Gourmet to make 675 jobs redundant

Struggling airline caterer Gate Gourmet is to get rid of 675 jobs, in a bid to put its UK operations back in the black.

Hoping to resolve the dispute that saw 667 workers sacked after a wildcat strike on 10 August, Gate Gourmet is offering voluntary redundancy to its 1,400 employees.

The deal, negotiated last week with unions, opens the door to resolving the dispute which caused massive disruption for customer BA grounding flights.

BA, which has subsequently improved its contract with the caterer, has put pressure on Gate Gourmet to take back the sacked workers.

Gate Gourmet said: "This will allow the company to address its ongoing staffing needs in a way that is fair to all employees and stem the losses that have put the company on the brink of administration."

A spokeswoman for the Transport & General Workers Union said it recognised the competitive pressures the caterer was under and welcomed the move to make the package voluntary.

"The decision to opt for redundancy will be a personal one, but many workers have known this was likely for many months and have had time to think over their options," she said.

However, the fate of workers branded "troublemakers" by the company remains unresolved and a potential stumbling block, with talks due to continue at the end of this week.

Gate Gourmet has said it will not have the agitators back and instead will offer only redundancy, something union representatives are yet to accept.

Buy this week's Caterer magazine for more industry news and analysis

The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking